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ERIC ED519559: Dropping Out of School in Southern Ghana: The Push-Out and Pull-Out Factors. CREATE Pathways to Access. Research Monograph No. 55 PDF

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Consortium for Research on Educational Access, Transitions and Equity Dropping Out of School in Southern Ghana: The Push-out and Pull-out Factors Eric Ananga CREATE PATHWAYS TO ACCESS Research Monograph No. 55 January 2011 University of Sussex Centre for International Education The Consortium for Educational Access, Transitions and Equity (CREATE) is a Research Programme ConsortiumsupportedbytheUKDepartmentforInternationalDevelopment(DFID).Itspurposeistoundertake researchdesignedtoimproveaccesstobasiceducationindevelopingcountries.Itseekstoachievethisthrough generatingnew knowledge and encouragingitsapplicationthrougheffective communicationand dissemination to national and international development agencies, national governments, education and development professionals,non-governmentorganisationsandotherinterestedstakeholders. Access to basic education lies at the heart of development. Lack of educational access, and securely acquired knowledgeandskill,isbothapartofthedefinitionofpoverty,andameansforitsdiminution.Sustainedaccess to meaningful learning that has value is critical to long term improvements in productivity, the reduction of inter-generational cycles of poverty, demographic transition, preventive health care, the empowerment of women,andreductionsininequality. TheCREATEpartners CREATEisdevelopingitsresearchcollaborativelywithpartnersinSub-SaharanAfricaandSouthAsia.The leadpartnerofCREATEistheCentreforInternationalEducationattheUniversityofSussex.Thepartnersare: TheCentreforInternationalEducation,UniversityofSussex:ProfessorKeithMLewin(Director) TheInstituteofEducationandDevelopment,BRACUniversity,Dhaka,Bangladesh:DrManzoorAhmed TheNationalUniversityofEducationalPlanningandAdministration,Delhi,India:ProfessorRGovinda TheEducationPolicyUnit,UniversityoftheWitwatersrand,SouthAfrica:DrShireenMotala TheUniversitiesofEducationatWinnebaandCapeCoast,Ghana:ProfessorJeromeDjangmah, ProfessorJosephGharteyAmpiah TheInstituteofEducation,UniversityofLondon:ProfessorAngelaWLittle Disclaimer The research on which this paper is based was commissioned by the Consortium for Research on Educational Access, Transitions and Equity (CREATE http://www.create-rpc.org). CREATE is funded by the UK Department for International Development (DFID) for the benefit of developing countries and is coordinated from the Centre for International Education, University of Sussex. The views expressed are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of DFID, the University of Sussex, or the CREATE Team. Authors are responsibleforensuringthatanycontentcitedisappropriatelyreferencedandacknowledged,andthatcopyright laws are respected. CREATE papers are peer reviewed and approved according to academic conventions. Permission willbegrantedto reproduceresearchmonographsonrequesttotheDirector ofCREATEproviding there is no commercial benefit. Responsibility for the content of the final publication remains with authors and therelevantPartnerInstitutions. Copyright©CREATE2011 ISBN:0-901881-62-7 Addressforcorrespondence: CREATE, CentreforInternationalEducation,DepartmentofEducation SchoolofEducation&SocialWork EssexHouse,UniversityofSussex,FalmerBN19QQ UnitedKingdom Tel: +44(0)1273877984 Fax: +44(0)1273877534 Authoremail: [email protected]/[email protected] Website: http://www.create-rpc.org Email [email protected] PleasecontactCREATEusingthedetailsaboveifyourequireahardcopyofthispublication. Dropping Out of School in Southern Ghana: The Push-out and Pull-out Factors Eric Ananga CREATE PATHWAYS TO ACCESS Research Monograph No. 55 January 2011 ii Contents Preface......................................................................................................................................vii Summary................................................................................................................................viii 1.Introduction............................................................................................................................1 1.1Purposeofthestudy........................................................................................................2 1.2Background.....................................................................................................................2 1.3OrganisationoftheStudy................................................................................................3 2.Dropout Literature: Reasons WhyChildrenDropout ofSchool..........................................4 2.1DemandFactors: Socio-economicbackground andtheDropout ...................................4 2.1.1HouseholdPoverty....................................................................................................4 2.1.2Fees and Indirect Costs ofSchooling........................................................................5 2.1.3Structureand arrangement inthehouseholdanddroppingout................................6 2.1.4ChildLabour/Work andDroppingout......................................................................6 2.2SupplyFactors: Conditions withintheSchool as Factors inthe Dropout Process.........7 2.2.1QualityofEducation: Processes andPractices.........................................................8 2.2.2EducationResources.................................................................................................8 2.2.3Conditions withintheSchool: Practices and Processes............................................9 2.2.4AcademicPerformance.............................................................................................9 2.2.5OverageEnrolment,Health Status andDropout.....................................................10 2.2.5.1OverageinGrade andDropout........................................................................10 2.2.5.2 PoorHealthandDropout................................................................................11 3.ResearchProblem and Questions.........................................................................................12 3.1StudyContext andMethods ofthestudy......................................................................12 3.2Datacollectionandanalysis..........................................................................................13 4.DiscussionofResults...........................................................................................................14 4.1TheSocio-economic Context as aPush and/orPull FactorintheDropout Process.....14 4.1.1HouseholdPoverty..................................................................................................14 4.1.2Family,ParentingStyleand Dropout......................................................................16 4.1.3HouseholdObligations: TheOpportunityCost ofSchooling.................................19 4.1.4ChildLabourandSchool Dropout..........................................................................23 4.1.5Seasonal ChildMigration.......................................................................................25 4.1.6Networks, EconomicSurvival Strategies andDropout..........................................28 4.2School Context as aPush andPull FactorintheDropout Process...............................30 4.2.1The InfluenceofTeachers on Dropout...................................................................30 4.2.1.1TeacherUnavailabilityor Absenteeism andDropout......................................30 4.2.1.2TeacherAttitudetowards Pupils andDropout.................................................33 4.2.1.3School Practices andProcesses, andDropout: RepetitionandReadmission..35 4.2.1.4TheuseofChildLabourat School..................................................................36 4.2.1.5DisciplineandCorporal Punishment...............................................................38 5.ReturningtoSchool: Conditions that EncourageChildrentoDropin................................40 5.1MotivationtoReturnto School: Children’s Views.......................................................40 5.2TheSchool’s ReactiontoChildrenWhoDropin: Pupils’Experiences.......................43 5.3ReturningtoCompleteSchool: ThePerceptions ofDrop-inChildren.........................44 6.Conclusionand Implications forPolicy...............................................................................46 6.1 Implications forEducationPolicyonAccess...............................................................46 References................................................................................................................................48 Appendix 1...............................................................................................................................55 iii List of Tables Table1: Children’s DailyActivities byAge, GenderandHourofDay..................................20 List of Figures Figure1: School Calendar,MigrationandtheEconomicActivities ofSchool Children........26 iv Listof Acronyms CSS Children’s School Supplies CREATE Consortium forResearch onEducational Access, Transitions andEquity EFA EducationforAll GMR Global MonitoringReport GoG Government ofGhana GPRS GhanaPovertyReductionStrategy GSS GhanaStatistical Service JHS Juniorhighschool MOESS MinistryofEducationScienceandSports PTA Parent Teacher Association SMC School Management Committee UNESCO United Nations Educational,ScientificandCultural Organisation UNICEF United Nations ChildrenEducationFund USAID United States Agencyfor International Development v Acknowledgements This article is based on data for my doctoral thesis and I would like to express my sincere gratitude to all the persons who participated in the study in various ways. I thank both of my supervisors, Professor Keith Lewin and Dr. Kwame Akyeampong for their comments and support throughout data collection and writing process. I am grateful to the Government of Ghana and CREATE for financial support. I am grateful to all the sources I contacted for information for this paper, especiallyDr. Fran Hunt whose paper on dropout was veryuseful. I am grateful to Dr. Benjamin Zeitlyn for his editorial work, comments and suggestions for improvingthis paper and also JustineCharles forhelpingbringthis papertoits final state. vi Preface Drop out is endemic in much of Sub-Saharan Africa. The largest number of children out of school in most countries not experiencing civil unrest are drop outs who enrolled but failed to complete their primary and junior high schooling. Disproportionately those dropping out are over age. Many will have a life history of late enrolment, irregular attendance and low achievement coupled with poverty and dislocated childhoods with insecure family relationships. Many surveys report the main causes of drop out as reported by children and teachers. These usuallyhighlight costs andirrelevanceofthecurriculum,childlabouramongst older children, pregnancy amongst girls, and other factors including distance to school, teacher absenteeism, disability and violence at school. This monograph goes beyond the first level attributions of drop out to delve under the surface and explore the dynamics of decision making and actions that lead to drop out, profile the forms it takes, and encourage or discourage re-entry into school. This generates a rich tapestry of insight into the life histories of different children who have dropped out. This shows how both factors on the supply and demand side are influential and may interact. It also illustrates how important action at the local level may be and how the actions of “significant others” maydetermine if drop out occurs and if it become permanent. The evidence presented is enough to establish that drop out is in important part generated by characteristics of schools and teachers, and by complicity within communities about child labour. The insights presented offer sharp challenges to schools, teachers and local education officials to re-examine their culpability in premature termination of the school careers of many children from poor households. They are also a reminder that though households and parents of course have responsibilities to encourage and support the schooling of their children, where this fails to happen, the state will remain the only guarantor of the right to education and needs to live up to the realities and obligations of being the provider of last resort. Keith Lewin DirectorofCREATE Centrefor International Education UniversityofSussex vii Summary Addressing school dropout has been one of the most controversial elements of policy since the introduction of free compulsory universal basic education (FCUBE) in Ghana. However, research that utilises qualitative biographical detail surrounding irregular attendance and the critical events in the process that lead to dropout in Ghana is limited. I argue that in order to achieve the target of universal basic education by 2015, education policy should focus more directly on addressing dropout. This paper provides an in-depth analysis of the critical events pupils experience as they cross the threshold from being enrolled to being out of school in southernGhana. This paperprovides fresh insights into dropouts’lifeworlds andeducational needs; opportunities to re-cross the threshold back into basic education, whether into school or complementary provision. The findings presented in this paper show that conditions both external to the school environment – poverty and the opportunity cost of schooling – and within the school – the teacher factor, and school practices and processes – conspire to compromiseretentionandpush and/orpull childrenout ofschool. viii

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